Saskatchewan’s Opposition leader says Premier Scott Moe deliberately misled voters with his promise to balance the budget by 2024 during the provincial election campaign.

Ryan Meili was not pulling punches when asked for his reaction from the news this week that achieving that goal now seems to be out of reach.

“I think people in Saskatchewan need to remember that when Scott Moe tells you something, especially something as important as provincial finances that you can’t trust him.” Meili said. “Everyday in the campaign the premier stood up and said he was going to balance the budget by 2024. He was lying. He knew very well that wasn’t something he was going to be able to do, but he sold people a lie.”

Finance Minister Donna Harpauer stated Monday that eliminating the two billion dollar deficit by 2024 as promised would be ““very, very difficult” because of a slower than expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moe is only saying more details will be provided when the next provincial budget is tabled next month, and only time will tell if the deficit can be cleared by 2024 as he had hoped.